Xi'an Jiaotong University began to offer courses on Marxist theories at the Marxism-Leninism teaching and research office in 1952. Established in 2009, the School of Marxism Studies became an independent school in April 2015, and was rated as a national key Marxism school in March 2017. In the fourth round of discipline evaluation organized by the Ministry of Education, the Marxism discipline was rated class A. The Institute of Marxism and Governance was established in September 2019. It has 80 faculty members, including 19 professors and 28 associate professors. Of them, there are over 30 doctoral tutors.

Six secondary teaching and research units, including the Institute of Marxist Principles, the Institute of Chinese Marxism, the Institute of Ideological and Political Education, the Institute of Chinese Modern History Research, the Institute of Marxism and Social Development, and the Institute of Foreign Marxism research, offer lessons of ideological and political theory (undergraduate program, master's program, doctor's program) and conduct studies and talent cultivation.

In recent years, the school has hosted one major project of the National Social Science Fund, three major projects on philosophy and social science of the Ministry of Education, five key projects and 30 general projects of the National Social Science Fund, and 30 general projects on humanity and social science of the Ministry of Education. It also published 103 academic monographs and textbooks, and more than 660 academic papers, including seven in SSCI journals, over 100 in authoritative journals, and over 360 in CSSCI journals. It has won three excellent achievement awards in humanity and social science issued by the Ministry of Education, and 20 excellent achievement awards in philosophy and social science issued by Shaanxi Province.